Untold Reflections from the World Conference Against Racism
This book unveils the details of the processes and deliberations that culminated in the consensual global commitment to decisively confront racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance. It settles the pre-conceived and prejudicial controversies raised against the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. High level delegates and leaders of structures of the conference address the development of the vision of nations for racial justice, building the structures of dialogue towards and during the third world conference against racism, choosing the leadership of the conference, consensus building especially on the so-called difficult issues, the role of championing states such as South Africa (host and then symbol of victory against racism) and Brazil (home to the largest population of people of African heritage outside Africa), and the legacy of the conference and outcome document. It reminds humanity of the merits and nobility of its Durban resolve, based on undertakings in Geneva, Strasbourg, Santiago de Chile, Dakar, and Teheran, under the auspices of the United Nations, and the significance of standing by it.
Prof. Catherine S. Namakula is a justice scholar at the University of the Free State, where she founded and convenes the Africa Reparation Hub. She is also the current member from African states of the UN Working Group of experts on people of African descent, a Durban mechanism and special procedure of the Human Rights Council. She chaired the Working Group in 2022 - 2023 leading missions to the United Kingdom, Australia and Colombia, investigating the plight of Africa's diaspora. She is also a member of the African Union Committee of Experts on Reparations; authored resolution 543 on Africa's reparation agenda and the human rights of people of African descent in the diaspora and people of African descent worldwide, which was adopted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights in December 2022. She is most published on the right to a fair trial.
